Honoring Our Animal Companions
Every day, twice a day for up to 30 minutes,I meditate and pray with my feline prayer partner, Beauregard. We have been doing this since he was 10 weeks old. Initially, Beau and I sat together for short periods. Now eight years later, he will come find me if I dawdle or detour from our spiritual practice.
There was a time when I would have thought this practice both unrealistic and foolish. Today, after co-founding the Animal Kinship Ministry in 1994 at Agape Church of Religious Science in Santa Monica, I know that it is sacred soul work.
I think perhaps more people now are beginning to see animals as fellow sojourners along the path. More people recognize the deeper intrinsic value of sharing our lives with our animal companions — as friends, for emotional support and for assistance with impairments.
In fact, many Centers for Spiritual Living recognize the vital role our animals play in our health. The idea for this branch of pastoral care was born in the late 1980s through a Huntington Beach Church of Religious Science practitioner named Missy Will.
When I partnered with her during an exercise, Missy’s spiritual mind treatment work with and for her congregation’s pets stood out to me. Little did I know that she was a seedling of Spirit that I would witness sprouting a few years later as the Animal Kinship Ministry.
A Passion for Pets Blooms Into Outreach
While serving as a licensed practitioner at Agape in 1994, I approached founder Rev. Michael Beckwith about creating a new team within Agape’s “One From the Heart” pastoral care ministry to support animals and their people. My family had just gone through the sudden and tragic loss of our 8-month-old puppy, Wunjo. Along with Wunjo’s passing, the inspiration for this ministry came from J. Allen Boone’s seminal book, “Kinship With All Life.” By the spring of 1996, our animal ministry team had grown to 15 members who met monthly to pray on specific requests. During that time, I served as the triage metaphysician to filter prayer requests, support pet lovers and provide memorial services. As our ministry grew, we offered our services to non-Agape members through local shelters and adoption organizations.
We transformed our prayer work into action for the community.
We weren’t a group of animal rights activists, vegans or protestors. We simply prayed and loved. Often, we were motivated to sign petitions, participate in demonstrations and volunteer. But as a ministry, we knew our most powerful resource was to show up and pray.
Opening to a Spiritual Support Evolution
“There are many great minds on Earth and not all are human.” — Anthony Douglas Williams
My ministry called me from Agape to the North Hollywood Church of Religious Science in 1998, where I helped form their animal kinship team.
We expanded our visibility and services with new outreach programs, and the wave of good followed me in 2001 to San Diego as a new senior minister at Pacific Church of Religious Science. That is when I extended the animal kinship concept to Religious Science churches throughout our movement.
I recently reconnected with Missy Will, and she continues her sacred work with animals. “I want to serve the non-verbal soul connection with our animals,” Missy feels to this day. “Animals come to teach us a lesson, every time. It is the reason for our connection.”
We learned in working with people after losing a beloved pet that unresolved grief issues from earlier deaths can arise. Most pet lovers aren’t prepared for the emotion and devastation when a pet dies. For many, it’s about losing the pure, unconditional love of their animal.
“The fact that pet loss isn’t sanctioned by society at large has a significant and detrimental impact on our ability to recover,” Dr. Guy Winch writes in Psychology Today. “It not only robs us of crucial social support, it also makes us feel embarrassed about the magnitude of the heartbreak, and we feel hesitant to disclose our distress to our loved ones. We might even wonder what is wrong with us and question why we are responding in such ‘disproportional’ ways to the loss.”
A Widening Reach
“Until we extend our circle of compassion to all living things, humanity will not find peace.”
— Albert Schweitzer
The impact of human relationships with our furry, feathered and scaly friends is broadly honored today, so much so that the Centers for Spiritual Living Animal Kinship concept has extended well beyond our communities to assist the Best Friends Animal Society, one of the most respected animal organizations in the United States.
I was honored to represent Religious Science in the creation of “A Religious Proclamation for Animal Compassion.” Best Friends invited 33 members from diverse religious traditions to Kanab, Utah, to craft an authoritative document about spirituality and animals.
As one of the co-authors, I was proud to join the team that took this important document to the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., in April 2007.
Volunteer or Find Support Today, the far-reaching importance of animal pastoral care is recognized in our Centers for Spiritual Living, with many congregations offering prayer, grief support, pet blessing events and special rituals. If you have questions, would like to volunteer with animals or are experiencing a need for spiritual support, you can contact your local Center for Spiritual Living about a pet ministry in your area. Visit CSL.org to find a center near you.